


Robbing the Grave

by wings_simulacrum



Series: Step Into the Future [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Happy Ending, M/M, grave robbing, hargreeves family shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 18:10:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18155282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wings_simulacrum/pseuds/wings_simulacrum
Summary: This is a follow-up to chapter 9 of Fly Away, Phantom. After a disastrous reunion with Reginald's ghost, the Hargreeves siblings have a plan to cheer Klaus up. Dave hasn't been able to stray far from his own grave, but Five thinks there's something to be done about that. What's a little grave robbing between siblings, anyways?





	Robbing the Grave

**Author's Note:**

> There's a flashback/panic attack in this, but I don't think it's a terribly detailed description.
> 
> Sorry for my long absence, everyone! I've been working two night jobs, going to college full time, and I got hella sick right before dead week. Fortunately, this term is over and one of my jobs is gone away for the season, so I'm back!

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Diego has rejected his balaclava in favor of his traditional domino mask, held loosely in one hand. They’re all of them – all seven – gathered together in the back of a panel van that Luther rented for just this occasion.

“Do I look like an idiot to you?” Five snaps. No one dares answer the old man in a teenager’s body, surrounded by five people and a ghost, all in their early 30’s. “Listen, there’s no way to be sure until we try it, but it’s the best and only lead we have.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Klaus extends an open hand, “what if we’re wrong though? What if this messes things up even more? I don’t want to lose Dave for good. Shouldn’t- shouldn’t we ask him?”

Everyone in the van looks at each other for a moment, and Luther is the first to speak.

“Klaus _does_ have a point.” A year ago, that statement would have been unimaginable. Now, it barely registers on the eyebrow telegraph in the back of the van. “We should get Dave’s permission. It’s _his_ remains, after all.”

“Fine, fine,” Five relents. “Klaus, you go ahead and run it by your boyfriend. Come back as soon as you have the affirmative. Be quick about it, though, we don’t want to draw too much attention. Unless I missed something in your last 17 years, grave robbing is still a crime.”

Klaus doesn’t wait for Five to finish, he opens the sliding door of the van and dashes into the night. They’d only parked around the corner from the graveyard Klaus has been frequenting, so it’s a short dash until he can hop the fence and sprint past headstones to the one that counts. There are other ghosts about, of course, but they know him well enough to leave him mostly alone.

“Dave! Dave?” Klaus makes it to his lover’s grave in record time, and he doesn’t have to wait long. He can feel Dave’s presence growing stronger with every step forward, and the man meets him a couple yards from his own final resting place.

“Klaus? It’s late. What are you doing here?” Klaus loosens the reins on his power just enough that when Dave’s hands reach for his, he can feel them. He leans into the touch for a moment, letting his eyes drift closed. “Ouija? What’s going on?”

“If you…” Klaus exhales heavy from his short run and meets Dave’s eyes. “If you had the chance to come home with me, would you?”

“Yes, of course,” Dave doesn't hesitate.

“But what if…”  For a moment, Klaus struggles to find the words. He gestures with one hand, eyebrows furrowed. “What if-”

“No _if_ , Klaus. _Yes._ ”

“Dave,”

“I want to.”

“If it goes wrong, we could lose each other forever!” Klaus doesn't realize he's shouting until after the words have already left his mouth. He glances around guiltily – if there was security, they didn’t hear him. “My brother thinks, _thinks_ he’s found a way. He’s smart, but he’s not perfect, Dave. You have to understand. We don’t know what happens if he’s wrong.”

Dave stops for a moment to think about it. Klaus feels a thrill of nerves in his gut as Dave looks at him like he’s made of gold, priceless beyond the touch of Midas. He loves, _loves_ that Dave thinks so much of him – but he’s so terrified of losing it. Klaus thinks he might rather they stay like this forever. Even if Dave is only in one place, stuck in this cemetery for all of eternity, at least Klaus can find him here. What if disturbing his bones displaces him forever? Instead of moving Dave’s presence from here to anywhere else, they simply release his spirit into the void? Klaus would much rather have what he knows he can have, here, than risk losing Dave for more. It might make him a coward, but he doesn’t care, he can’t bear to lose Dave twice. It’s not his decision, though. It’s Dave’s.

“I’m sure, Klaus.” The words take all the air from Klaus’s lungs. He’s afraid, of course, but hopeful, too. If this works, he can have Dave anywhere and everywhere… forever. It’s almost too much to wish for. Klaus nods and presses his forehead do Dave’s. “When do we start?”

-

Dave was buried in his best (and only) dress uniform, and Klaus tries his absolute best to think about how nice it would have looked on him in life, instead of the way the old fabric hangs over bones – all that’s left of Dave’s body. Five supplies a duffel bag and the family gets to work. Klaus, Dave, Ben, and Vanya act as lookouts while the rest pull bones gently from the coffin and load them into the bag. Klaus makes the mistake of turning, though, as they pull Dave’s rib cage out. Most of his skeleton is intact except for a gaping hole in the center of his sternum.

It feels like time travel. One moment, Klaus is perched on a tall headstone by Dave’s open grave, keeping an eye out for overnight security guards or unwelcome watchers. The next, he’s sweating in the Vietnam night. Gunshots and the screams of dying men echo in his ears and he knows, just _knows_ that if he were to look beside him, he’d see Dave lifeless and bleeding out with a crater in his chest. He can’t do it. Klaus throws himself to the ground and curls up against the back of a headstone, squeezing his eyes shut as he tries to breathe through the tightness in his chest. He wants to scream for Dave, wants to feel the man next to him, but a part of Klaus remembers to stay silent. He whimpers into his hands.

“Klaus?” Diego and Vanya speak in synchrony, both racing to Klaus’s side, but Diego gets there first. He puts one warm, heavy hand on Klaus’s shoulder and squeezes gently.

“You with us, buddy?” It’s all Klaus can do to nod yes. “Okay, stay with us. Right here, Klaus. We’re in the city, at that graveyard you like so fuckin’ much? It’s March, but not as warm as last March. You feel that springtime chill in the air?” Though Diego doesn’t know it, Dave is crouched on the other side of Klaus, whispering gentle and comforting words into his ear.

Klaus wants Dave’s words to help, but they just don’t. Dave is in Vietnam, in the 60’s, dying next to him, but Diego is in 2020, crouched next to Klaus, begging him to come back. Though it pains him to do so, Klaus tunes out Dave and reaches over to grasp Diego’s hand on his shoulder. He squeezes back tightly like it’s his only lifeline.

“Come back to us, Klaus.” He wants to, he really does. Klaus feels the grass underneath him and the light, cool breeze across his skin. He’s surrounded by ghosts, but not the babbling and desperate cries of soldiers who will never go home – he’s surrounded by those already settled. This time when he inhales, the air isn’t thick enough to choke him anymore. “There you go. You’re right here.”

“Guys,” Vanya’s tense voice cuts through the moment. “I see lights.”

“We’re done here,” Five says. “Let’s go.”

“Alright, Klaus, can you get out of here with us?”

Absolutely not. No chance in hell. Klaus’s grip on reality was tenuous at best and there was _no_ way he could open his eyes or get up right now. The best he could do was shake his head vehemently.

“Come on, guys,” Five’s voice is urgent. “They’re _coming_.” He hefts the duffel bag over his shoulder, now full and zipped shut, but Luther grabs it from him.

“I’ve got this. You get the van running.” Luther towers over Diego and Klaus. “Unless I should..?” Diego looks up at him and instantly intuits the end of that question. He shakes his head in a negative.

“Not you, bro. I’ve got this.” Luther nods and jogs off, close on the heels of his siblings. Diego could see the two flashlight beams in the distance, coming closer. Though his hearing was only average, he can tell that one of them was talking intensely – probably on the phone with dispatch. “Okay, Klaus. Sorry not sorry.” Diego shifts into a different crouching position, wraps his arms around Klaus, and pulls his brother over one shoulder as he stands up. Half of a fireman’s carry is far from dignified and less than ideal, but it has to be done. Diego suppresses the urge to smile a little at poor Klaus, flopping helplessly across Diego’s back. In any other scenario, he’d never let his brother live this one down.

“Hey! Hey, stop where you are!” The security guards are faster than Diego expected, encumbered as he is by a second body. He puts on a burst of speed, lungs heaving as he attempts to catch up to his family and get the hell out of there before he gets caught.

The van is close now. Diego can see one of the back panels pulled open, the urgent faces of Luther, Allison, and Vanya looking out at him. They’re urging him on, waving and shouting for him to run faster. Klaus is still limp over his shoulder. It’s not funny, he reminds himself, as the sound of guards behind him gets louder. Any second now, they’ll catch up to him. They’ll grab Klaus by the wrists and pull, bringing Diego down with him, and then their siblings will have to jump out and start something. Diego’s lungs burn.

He’s close enough. Diego pushes with all of his strength, tossing Klaus’s unresponsive form at the van. Luther catches the body and drags Klaus the rest of the way in – Diego jumps after him, grabbing on to Allison and Vanya. The three of them fall into the van.

“Go! Go! Go!” Luther hollers at the driver’s seat, and Five guns it. They speed off into the night, leaving two furious security guards behind in a cloud of exhaust.

-

Klaus is afraid to open his eyes. He’s deeply terrified that if he does, he’ll see himself surrounded by all his siblings – and no one else. If he opens his eyes and Dave isn’t there, Klaus doesn’t know what he’ll do. If he asks for Dave and no voice responds, he doesn’t know what he’ll do. Klaus squeezes his eyes shut and lives in his quiet, dark world of terror for a few more moments. He knows he can do this – he has to. Klaus takes a deep breath, then another. The hum of the van is gentle background noise, he focuses on that and tunes out the voices of his siblings. The van takes a sharp left. Klaus opens his eyes.

None of Klaus’s living siblings are looking his way. They’re all crowded at the front of the van, talking. Diego and Luther are both back-seat driving, much to Five’s loud annoyance. Allison is in the passenger seat giving directions. Vanya is sitting in the back, behind her brother, knees drawn to her chest as she stares at the duffel bag. Ben is reading a book by Klaus’s head. He notices Klaus open his eyes and smiles.

“Look who’s back.” Klaus can’t return the smile. First things first.

“Dave?”

Ben’s face tells him everything he needs to know. Klaus let out all the air in his lungs and let his head fall back to the floor of the van with a _thud_. He rolls his eyes back as far as he can – if Klaus were upright, he’d be looking at the sky. As it is, he finds himself looking at something far more lovely and welcome.

“Ouija,” the relief in Dave’s voice is palpable, “we did it. There’s no getting rid of me, now.” His last word trails off into a relieved chuckle.

Klaus can’t stifle the hysterical giggle that bubbles in his own chest. It persists, growing into full-bodied laughter, and he doesn’t care that his siblings are staring at him like he’s a maniac. For the first time in years, they aren’t looking at him in judgement. They’re looking at him with joy. Dave is looking at him with joy.

That’s all he feels.


End file.
